Kathidium
Kathidium is a self-replicating crystalline structure composed of interlocking nanobots, although some debate it is actually an exotic form of life; debating that the nanomachines which make up the crystal structure better classify as a metallic 'plant' which 'photosynthesizes' matter across higher dimensions. Yet it also has properties of a multi-cellular organism able to function as a single whole even when fragmented. It was created by a Katharian named Jeamus Kathidius Thrond at the end of the Space Conflict Era, and most known for the Kathidium Incident. Types of Kathidium Silver Kathidium Kathidium-S1 Silver Kathidium was the original variety of kathidium; created by Jeamus Kathidius Thrond. The crystal was a self-replicating structure of nanomachines. These machines could draw on ambient Materium particles passing in and out of realspace, allowing the crystal to effectively expand and grow from nothing. The crystals also increased in growth speed the larger they became. The initial intention behind its creation was to provide an unlimited source of pre-refined materials for the construction of cities, orbital habitats. By hitting the crystal structure with a specific wavelength of harmonic gravity or sound; the nano technology which made up the crystal would respond by discontinuing the growing process and expelling a slow but unlimited stream of energy. This made the creation of Kathidium reactors feasible, ones which could be used for reactors or raw materials. As a safety measure and to ensure a backup in case Kathidium began to grow out of control, Jeamus created Techubon-111, an organic nanoparticle which would break down all contiguious Kathidium crystals at a very rapid rate. He also instigated a safety feature that caused growth to slow and eventually stop once a growth in a region when reached a specific mass of a few million tons. Kathidium-S2 Kathidium-S2 was discovered on planets that had been cleared of B1 Kathidium infestations. It was very similar to S1 Kathidium but immune to all variations of Techubon. It was believed that hitting an infestation of B1 Kathidium with Techubon-211 had an extremely small chance (about 1 in 1 x 10¹⁸ of creating a single Kathidium S2 nanite which would then grow into a finite cluster (called a garden) which would sprawl over several square kilometers of a planet until it reached its pre-programmed limiter. Kathidium S2 Blue Kathidium Kathidium-B1 Blue Kathidium is the contagious variety and the variety most known for causing mass destruction of the galaxy. When someone mentions Kathidium in-universe, they are usually talking about this variety. Blue Kathidium was originally created through a mutation of the nanobots that made up S1 Kathidium which began reproducing improperly. This new variety of Kathidium had altered properties. Though it could grow and expand from nothing, it did so at a slower rate than S1 Kathidium, and instead would devour other matter. How effectively it could spread was dependent upon what type of matter it came in contact with. Its blue color came from the presence of Hongakium as the primary metal in the crystal structure, and this does imply that B1 Kathidium forces nearby materials to undergo a sort of elemental transmutation. In order of most to least pervasive, B1 Kathidium was known to consume refined metallic substances almost instantly, converting vast swaths of metal or entire starships or space stations into its crystal state in mere minutes and unrefined metallic ores or minerals would convert only slightly slower. Nonmetallic rock would convert at a moderate rate, with Kathidium spreading in rock and dirt at a rate of about one meter per minute. Wholly organic material was consumed at a very slow pace. Kathidium had the most difficulty assimilating liquid or gaseous substences into its growth and, on planets ravaged by B1 Kathidium, oceans and atmospheres could remain for many centuries after the landmass itself has been wholly converted down to the mantle into Blue Kathidium. However B1 Kathidium is dangerous for its evolved ability to infest and break down various substances. However this ability came at the loss of its ability to draw on and grow from ambient energy in exchange for its rapidly accelerated growth time, and lack of growth limiter. Kathidium Storms Ionic storms of ionized linear gasses would be produced from the Kathidium attempting to assimilate air molecules. These storms would only become prevalent when Kathidium had spread to encompass expansive regions of a planet, and were known to scramble sensor equipment and electronics. These storms occasionally contained spores, individual microscopic Kathidium nanobots which would be carried on the wind to seed the infestation in new areas. Kathidium Combat Forms Kathidium combat forms, sometimes known as Kathiditikes would spawn from Kathidium patches as they began to develop intelligence. These forms were made up of Kathidium crystals and could spawn from moderate levels of infestation. The shapes of these combat forms could vary wildly but they were often modeled specifically from what they were intending to fight. The most common forms were small spider like creatures called crawlers; creatures which were designed to spread the infestation further by moving in hordes. This made explosive area of effect weapons or tailored sonic or harmonic weapons the only effective way to handle hordes of crawlers. Other combat forms included the stalkers; vaguely canine forms with slender bodies which would hunt in packs attempting to take down sentient beings or wild animals that happened to wander too close. Brawlers were large, vaugely humanoid forms standing at around 2.5 to 3.5 meters with arms made up of long blades covered in thousands of needle like barbs designed to combat and infest armed resistance. However these were only a handful of combat forms. As a Kathidium infestation became more developed and intelligent it would create combat forms specifically tailored to whatever opposition it would face. Technology Assimilation Kathidium had the capacity to assimilate technology that it came into contact with. Upon doing so, any assimilated data would be shared with the Kathidium collective, and it could subsequently operate any machine it had assimilated. If the Kathidium infestation was sufficiently advanced, such that it was no longer mindless, it would often choose not to fully consume the machine only building up crystal clusters as armor around vulnerable joints or locations and the central computer systems which it desired to control. This actually netted it an advantage as the machinery could retain its full functionality. This functionality could be useful if robotic units were on hand, as they could be promptly assimilated and possibly upgraded into combat forms. Sufficiently advanced infestations could deconstruct and reconstruct technological components on the fly, allowing them to disassemble civilian and military hardware and vehicles and stitch them back together via Kathidium crystals creating new and deadly forms and combinations. Cyberwarfare and cyber defense was not an effective defense in preventing Kathidium infestation from seizing control of a piece of machinery, as it would simply physically consume the vital computer components and replace them with its own crystal structure. It was the use of this ability to assimilate starships which made Kathidium a galactic threat, as it was able to take control of ships and pilot them to new systems and crash them into planets to seed the infestation. Intelligence Development As an infestation of B1 Kathidium grew in size, it would gradually develop intelligence. After spreading over just a handful of square kilometers of a planet (something which involved many trillions upon trillions of nanites) the infestation would begin to act intelligently, acting on a singular motive to survive and continually seek out sources of matter and energy with no regard for other forms of life. It was believed that B1 Kathidium retained its link which allowed it to bring individual particles through and into the crystal structure from higher dimensions, but instead this became a sort of communications grid, allowing the individual nanites which made up the crystals to send information to one another, gradually growing in complexity until they mimicked a living brain. Gold Kathidium (Kathidium G1) Gold Kathidium was made up mostly of Goudium, but also made up of Vindium and containeda trace percentage of Arsium. Gold Kathidium gardens sometimes remained on planets cleared of Kathidium infestation. Aside from this it was very similar to S2 Kathidium, but grew at a much slower rate and seemed to have a smaller total garden size with wider spacing between gardens necessary for peak growth. Bronze Kathidium (Kathidium R1) Bronze Kathidium was made up mostly of nanobots composed primarily of Sigmodium and Zorium. Because it was made up of Zorium, and the Zorium atoms within its crystal structure became energized, underground or surface level growths could induce strange localized gravitational effects including terrain formations with vertical cliffs which one could walk up or down, places of high, low, or zero gravity at a planet's surface level, rivers or waterfalls which flowed uphill, and even the uprooting city sized sections of land and causing them to float above a planet's surface, in the lower or upper atmosphere; with vast growths of bronze crystals protruding from the bottom. Aside from this was very similar to S2 Kathidium, but grew at a slightly faster rate and seemed to have a larger total garden size than S2. Because it had gravitational manipulation properties, combat forms originating from R1 gardens often had the ability of flight or gravity based attacks. Countermeasures Kathidium was extremely dangerous and since it would spread and expand into a garden. However only blue Kathidium would expand indefinitely. Gardens of S2, Gold and Bronze Kathidium were confined to a handful of gardens per planet, each measuring several square kilometers, and spaced apart by dozens of kilometers due to the inherit safety system which prevented entire planets from being consumed from the original S1 Kathidium remaining in the programming of the Kathidium nanites. If one removed a crystal from a garden by sufficient distance it might begin to grown once more in a new location, creating an entire new garden, and the small Kathidium gardens present on nearly every planet would regularly spawn combat forms trying to destroy nearby civilizations or trying to seed new gardens in new locations by infesting technology, retaining some aspect of the consciousness possessed by blue Kathidium when it spread over the galaxy. Occasionally these gardens would mutate back into B1 Kathidium in which case TB-211 could be used to eradicate the garden. Samples of Techubon 111 and 211 could be used to break down contiguous patches, working like a virus it attacked the individual cells which made up Kathidium and proceeded to break them down into their constituent elements. However S2, G1 and R1 Kathidium were immune to all known forms of Techubon. However since these patches were often euclid and of only moderate size they could not completely threaten a planets' biosphere or population and were cultivated for unlimited supplies of necessary resources. Kathidium could be destroyed with high heat; often the most brute force of approaches simply melted the composite nanobots into slag. This was a potential means to stop early stage B1 infestations as high-yield weaponry could vaporize the crystals, but this needed to be done before the crystals had traveled deep underground. Electromagnetic pulse weapons could also be effective as could high powered sonic or gravity based harmonic weapons set to target the frequency of the individual nanobots could destroy the crystals or simply immobilize them and keep them from growing. These could sometimes be used for ground based cleanup operations, slowly closing in from all sides on a surface garden until it was eradicated. Cleanup operations were ongoing even in 1208DE, but it was typically a slow and arduous process as to fully eradicate a garden precise and sustained orbital bombardment via energy weapons would be needed to completely disintegrate the underground component of a Kathidium garden, often with several ships moving in a lawnmower pattern constantly. Surface level gardens were easily found but underground gardens were much more common that the surface ones, and a single combat form could rise to the surface and reseed a garden that ships had just spent weeks slagging.